Therapeutic responses to chemotherapy or immunotherapy by molecular subtype in bladder cancer patients: A meta-analysis and systematic review

To systematically evaluate the differences in therapeutic response to chemotherapy or immunotherapy between different molecular subtypes of bladder cancer (BC). A comprehensive literature search was performed up to December 2021. Consensus clusters 1 (CC1), CC2 and CC3 molecular subtypes were used to perform meta-analysis. Pooled odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to assess the therapeutic response by fix-effect modeling. Eight studies involving 1,463 patients were included. For immunotherapy, CC3 showed the highest response rate (CC1 vs. CC3: OR=0.52, 95% CI=0.34–0.78, p=0.002; CC2 vs. CC3: OR=0.42, 95% CI=0.28-0.62, p<0.001), which was mainly reflected in the highest response rate to atezolizumab (CC1 vs. CC3: OR=0.47, 95% CI=0.29–0.75, p=0.002; CC2 vs. CC3: OR=0.38, 95% CI=0.24–0.59, p<0.001). For chemotherapy, CC3 had the lowest response rate to the overall chemotherapy (CC1 vs. CC3: OR=2.05, 95% CI=1.23–3.41, p=0.006; CC2 vs. CC3: OR=2.48, 95% CI=1.50–4.10, p<0.001). Compared with CC2, CC3 responded poorly to both neo-adjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) (OR=1.93, 95% CI=1.09–3.41, p=0.020) and chemoradiation therapy (CRT) (OR=6.07, 95% CI=1.87–19.71, p<0.001). Compared with CC1, CC3 only showed a poorer response to CRT (OR=4.53, 95% CI=1.26–16.27, p=0.020), and no difference in NAC. Our study suggested that molecular classifications are important predictors of cancer treatment outcomes of BC patients and could identify subgroup patients who are most likely to benefit from specific cancer treatments.